Steve, Author at Nomadic Research Labs

by Steven K. Roberts Mountain View, California February 12, 1987 11,652 miles It was a crisp morning, foggy enough to romantically mute the distant San Francisco skyline, cool enough to make the ride exhilarating, early enough to eliminate any sense of hurry. Perfect conditions for a float across the bay and the long trek to…

by Steven K. Roberts Sausalito, California February 5, 1987 11,565 miles Suddenly there begins another mad macrophase. The changes struck with our last wild descent, an abrupt transition at the dusky end of an exhausting 50-mile day. BMW’s and solar-heated redwood hot tubs. Vanity plates and chocolatiers. Evidence everywhere of treats turned de rigueur, of…

One of my fondest memories from the Winnebiko II epoch, traveling both US coasts with Maggie, was our time spent in Humboldt County… hanging out with a group of loony artists obsessed with the Kinetic Sculpture Race. In this little article for Northcoast View (published from 1982-1989), I report on their invention of tricycle polo,…

High-tech nomad writes while he cycles By Joann Garlington, Staff WriterPress-Democrat January 27, 1987 Ohio freelance writer Steve Roberts likes to write his magazine articles and books while on the road, the pavement whizzing only inches below his typing fingers. While his feet push the pedals of the 8-foot-long recumbent computerized bicycle, his hands control the…

By Dave Harlander Independent Coast Observer Coast Visitors January 23, 1987 Steven Roberts happily makes a living simultaneously punching keys on a word processor and pedaling his custom-built 8-foot bicycle. Self-proclaimed “high-tech nomads,” Roberts and his friend Maggie Victor, riding a similar bike, pedaled down the coast last week on their way from Seattle. After…

by Steven K. Roberts Healdsburg, California January 23, 1987 11,450 miles It began dramatically, as befits the coast. Looking down through Minolta 8×20’s on the backs of soaring hawks, wingtips like splayed fingers playing the thermals with precision. Wide-eyed flight down a tightly coiled road, losing 700 altimeter feet in moments only to hurl ourselves…

The Computing Across America tale closes with a look from 2 years down the road… aboard a new and more geeky version of the Winnebiko.

by Steven K. Roberts Mendocino, California January 15, 1987 11,363 miles Nowhere is the infinite interconnectedness of human relationships so clear as in a succession of small coastal towns, isolated from the rest of the world — towns small enough to be interdependent, yet large enough to be vigorous; places rugged enough to discourage the…

by Steven K. Roberts Mendocino, California January 12, 1987 11,324 miles Rolling! Suddenly the deeply familiar texture of life on the road mingles again with the chronic unfamiliarity of daily movement. In the week since leaving Eureka, our range of experiences has been so diverse that only the most abstract of themes could begin to…

by Steven K. Roberts Eureka, California January 1, 1987 We would have pedaled down to Ferndale today if it hadn’t rained. For over a week we’ve been planning our New Year’s Day departure from this place that has grown too familiar. All through December the sun shone brightly — by Christmas I was so sure…

Posts by Steve

San Francisco en Passant

Sonomarin Snapshots

Trollo – Kinetic Sculpture Artists Invent Tricycle Polo

High-tech nomad – Santa Rosa Press-Democrat

Couple Riding High-Tech Bikes Across Country

Accident and Aftermath

Computing Across America – Epilogue

Changing the World in Mendocino

A Week of Movement

Be It Ever So Humboldt…